Polymer thick-film resistor printed on planar circuit board surface

A method of manufacturing a printed circuit board, the method comprising the steps of:

• forming a first copper layer on a dielectric substrate;
• etching an opening in the first copper layer to expose a region of the substrate, the exposed region having two side sections separated by a mid-section, the first copper layer having two edge regions adjacent the mid-section of the exposed region and separated by the opening and the mid-section of the exposed region;
• depositing a photodielectric layer on the first copper layer and the exposed region of the substrate;
• photoimaging and developing the photodielectric layer so that the photodielectric layer covers only the mid-section of the exposed region and the two edge regions of the first copper layer while exposing the two side sections of the exposed region and a surface region of the first copper layer;
• electroplating a second copper layer on at least a portion of the surface region adjacent the two end sections of the dielectric layer so that the photodielectric layer and the second copper layer define a substantially coplanar surface;
• removing a portion of the second copper layer so as to define a pair of terminations separated by the photodielectric layer;
• and then
• screen printing a polymer thick-film resistive material on the photodielectric layer and the terminations so as to define a polymer thick-film resistor.

A method of manufacturing a printed circuit board, the method comprising the steps of:

• forming a first conductive layer on a dielectric substrate, the first conductive layer having an opening therein that exposes a region of the substrate, the exposed region having two side sections separated by a mid-section, the first conductive layer having two edge regions adjacent the mid-section of the exposed region and separated by the opening and the mid-section of the exposed region;
• forming a dielectric layer that covers the mid-section of the exposed region of the substrate, the dielectric layer having two end sections that cover the two edge regions of the first conductive layer, the first conductive layer having a surface region left exposed by the dielectric layer;
• depositing a second conductive layer on at least a portion of the surface region adjacent the two end sections of the dielectric layer;
• depositing a polymer thick-film resistive material on the dielectric layer and the second conductive layer;
• and then
• removing a portion of the second conductive layer and a portion of the first conductive layer so as to define a pair of terminations separated by the dielectric layer, the polymer thick-film resistive material and the terminations defining a polymer thick-film resistor.